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Soriano's Glen Lukens House: Back to Life and Happy

Opportunities to write about historically significant modern houses in Los Angeles keep coming to my attention this summer and more are on the way. It is kind of fun to write about these masterpieces from my messy office alcove next to the kitchen in our little happy dingbat apartment in Glendale, California.

The Lukens House was designed and built by immigrant architect Raphael Soriano in 1939, for the ceramic artist and USC professor Dr. Glen Lukens. Considering his talent and vigor, the architect, who previously worked for Richard Neutra and R.M. Schindler, built relatively few houses, some of which are well preserved, but some were abandoned, neglected, demolished and sometimes forgotten, like the Lukens House was until recently.

Soriano's houses are some of the more important examples of so called international style, a term the architect helped spread in Los Angeles.
It is important to add here that Soriano was the architect whom photographer Julius Shulman and his wife selected to design their home. As to why, Mr. Shulman did tell me in an unpublished interview that the decision to hire Mr. Soriano was made because “he loved life!” after drinking a few bottles of wine Mr. Soriano brought with him to the empty lot Shulmans bought below Mulholland Drive. The three of them sat there overlooking Los Angeles until the sun came up the next morning, “talking about everything else but architecture” per se.
The Lukens House began to deteriorate after 1967, when Glen Lukens died, but by then it had inspired Frank O. Gehry to become an architect, who said this to writer Susan Morgan;

"Glen changed the course of my life. He was building a house with architect Raphael Soriano, and he had a feeling that I might like to see the process, so he dragged me over there one day. Soriano was there, wearing an all-black outfit with a black beret, giving directions in his accented English (he was from Rhodes), and telling men how to put up steel. I really got into it.
The next day Glen called me into his office. He said, "You know I have this hunch. Will you go along with me?" I said, "Whatever you say, boss." He signed me up (and paid for) a night school architecture class. The class was the first time I did something that got people saying, "Hey there's something going on here." They like what I did and I enjoyed it, and the school skipped me into the second year."

When it was on the market almost two years ago, the once inspiring Lukens House was in dire condition and steps away from becoming a total debris pile in the middle of a working class Los Angeles neighborhood, far from its beautiful past when it was a great home and a studio for Dr. Lukens.

Perhaps in the nick of time, the Lukens House was restored by its new owner Michael Chapman who commissioned Barry Milofsky of M2A Architects to design the restoration.
The work was painstakingly done by Albert Luna who received a certificate of excellence for his construction work which he proudly carries around.
The outstanding skill of the restoration architect is noteworthy here, as you experience the restoration not as something "new" gleaming at you, but as easing and stitching into the bigger picture as if it was always meant to be this way. The restoration accomplished a complete recovery of warmth, and a feeling of openness and airiness, which restates Soriano's magic and humble touch.

It is a definite win for the cultural heritage of the city, the architectural community and last but not least, it marks the return of a great home to its new occupants.

In a quiet moment after a public event showing the house last Sunday, I asked the house if she was “happy now,” and she whispered, “yes.”

About the Author

Orhan Ayyüce is a senior editor for Archinect and writes about architecture, urbanism, people, politics, arts and culture. As an active member of Archinect's editorial team, his feature articles, interviews and other content is frequently published here. Orhan also works behind ...

8 Comments

When we did our Soriano book signing and discussion this house wasn't even on the radar. Soriano's work is hard to spot so i am real glad for this one. Soriano, and also Gregory Ain, are two neglected architects that deserve (and getting) more attention. thanks

Excellent work. I think this will be a real challenge for architects in the 21st century. Our neighborhoods are rapidly becoming the stuff cranked out of a single mold and are losing their sense of distinctiveness.

Orhan bey, another cool piece. When I saw this in the news a few years ago I thought that it would be gone from the world in a minute. Great that the owner decided to fix it. I ran into Albert at a supermarket a few weeks ago and he told me about the project. He also came by and showed me his award of excellence, very cute. In the meantime I am still slaving away at the Ain house but it is coming along.

I cannot appreciate the floorplan changes, it indicates a totally ill conceived notion of entrance to the house, creating a narrow corridor of space for the visitor. Additonally, the change in the garage ingress, is very much not respecting the notion of Soriano and the times of modern house spaces.

W.architect, are you sure? This house has many entrances and not about "main" entrance. They didn't do anything in that department that radically changes any notion of "entrances" to the house and what was originally built. Where is this "narrow corridor of space" you are talking about?

I am also trying to understand what you have said about the garage ingress. They cancelled the direct garage connection to inside of the house since they created a new bedroom adjacent to garage but it is not unusual to not have an interior and direct door to the garage of the house. You can park your car and use the side yard access and enter the kitchen which is a good set up..

I am not trying to change your opinion about what you expressed but trying to make sure you are understanding those changes on the plan. Do you care to explain further?

A message from Barry Milofsky of M2A Architects, the restoration architect of Lukens House.

"Perhaps some clarification is in order. The original door from the deck is preserved. The deck was narrowed/ studio widened by Lukens to increase his studio space.
Although they were on the original plans, there is no evidence that the stairs to the garage were ever constructed, so the original access from the garage to the house was throgh the door into the pantry as you so correctly noted."